Squid Game: The Challenge is a reality game show that is a spin-off to the hugely popular South Korean TV series Squid Game. The show recreates the games featured in the show, including four hundred and sixty-five people and offering the winner an incredible prize pot of 4.56 million dollars. The participants, including Player 299, Spencer Hawkins, applied to take part in the show from all over the globe, and no expense was spared to build the sets and immerse the players deeply into the Squid Game world.
Over the course of the show, viewers are privy to the conversations and alliances that form while the players take part in the challenges, and live in the dorms provided. Players are updated on the results of each game. Every player eliminated adds ten grand to the prize pot, and we hear some of the aspirations of the remaining players as they watch the money increase.
In true reality game show style, the audience gets to know some of the players in the series, and one such player was Spencer Hawkins. Player number 299 would leave a small mark.
Where is Spencer Hawkins now?
Spencer Hawkins in Squid Game: The Challenge | Image via Netflix
Spencer would offer up a lot of personal information about himself during his time on the show. He is originally from Spokane Valley, Washington, and but he is currently in Davidson, North Carolina. He has been a student of Davidson College since 2019 and should graduate in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Theatre.
Before taking part in the challenge, Spencer would open up about his own beliefs. “I grew up extremely religious as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Spencer said, continuing,
“And I still go to church every week, but I’m not sure what I think anymore. And it’s a weird thing to say to people, but I think questions are a really important thing in life, and it’s fine to not have answers immediately. I’ve just had questions for a long time, and I’m not sure I’ve been getting the answers I wanted.”
Spencer Hawkins’ journey in Squid Game: The Challenge
In Episode 2 of the show, Spencer opens up about his work and his family life before taking part in a challenge. Spencer has to pick a symbol for the cookie challenge and make a decision that will impact his journey and the rest of the players in his line. He picks the umbrella, the most difficult shape in the game.
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The stress from the challenge was almost unbearable to watch, with Spencer becoming nauseous while attempting the challenge. Spencer felt that people would remember him as he ruined their chance of winning the game. Ultimately, he would fail the challenge and be eliminated from the game, as would many of the others that were left, having to cut out the intricate shape without breaking the biscuit. When the results were revealed, the number of players was reduced to 119, meaning sixty-nine were eliminated from the challenge and the prize pot would increase.
Since leaving the show, Spencer has been under the radar and there is no information regarding his private life available.
Why did Spencer keep almost throwing up during the Dalgona candy game?
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, one of the few bits of publicity Spencer has participated in for the show, Spencer was pointedly asked about the thing people will probably most remember him for: His violent dry-heaving before and during the Dalgona candy game described above, where he made the fateful decision to choose the difficult umbrella shape.
Spencer describes having to wait a long time between rounds, and spending it drinking a lot of water and trying to save up spit in his mouth. He continues,
The moment other people walk in the room and I see the pain on their faces. Difficulty for myself, that’s one thing I can handle. But when you’re talking about difficulty for others, that’s my responsibility. That’s a weight that doesn’t really go away. It was like seeing friends who are hurting, because that’s how I ultimately viewed everyone else there, as a friend. I did feel physically sick.
When being asked whether it all amounted to actual vomiting, Spencer said, simply, “I don’t think … I think I gagged a little in my mouth. The worst kind.”
